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| | [[Category:Bureau of Information]][[Category:Task Forces/Unit Portals]][[Category:STAR FLEET: ORIGINS]][[Category:ORIGINS: Sixth Fleet]][[Category:ORIGINS: USS Hood]] |
| | {{ORIGINS_header}} |
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| =2260=
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| ==[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: And Then It All Went To Hell==
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| ===by [[Mansur_Brian|Mansur, Brian]]===
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| <PRE>
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| Scene: Planet Monil IV, Capital City.
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| SD 2260.102
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|
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| Lieutenant Commander Sean Merrick shifted uneasily in the limousine's shotgun
| | {{template:ORIGINS_USS_Hood_Story_Posts}} |
| seat. He tried hard to ignore the loudmouth behind him and enjoy the view of
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| Monil IV's captial city. He sighed and turned to watch the capital's intricate
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| marble edifices blur by.
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| Merrick, about two dozen Starfleet crew, and several planetary officials were
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| convoying from their hotel up to the Grand Council Hall. Their job was
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| straightforward: negotiate for the Federation a treaty to mine the planet's
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| dilithium reserves.
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| Simple enough, Merrick thought. He rolled his eyes and wondered when the
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| councilman behind him would ever shut up about it. The chunky politician had
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| the XO, Commander Jack Steele, well and truly trapped in the rear cabin.
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| "I'm telling you that the Enric provincials won't like it!" Councilman Litro
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| argued. "They won't stand for it! Have you ever met one of them? In their
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| minds, it is the Prasaans' fault that the sun rises and that the sun sets."
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| Merrick harumphed. Hatfields and McCoys evidently had extended family on Monil.
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| As the chief engineer, Merrick had briefed the planetary council on which
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| dilithium deposits they wanted to tap first. It had gone over like a fart in
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| church. The majority of the mines lay in, of all places, the Prasaan province's
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| western border. It was land that the not so wealthy, but very irritable Enric
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| had historically disputed ownership of.
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| Litro carried on. "The Federation contracts will give the Prasaan overwhelming
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| economic and political power. Protests against these treaty talks have already
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| begun. Why, this morning, 5 people were hopitalized after a full out riot!"
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| "We're not about to tell you how to run your politics, councilman," Steele
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| calmly countered. "But the Federation considers that dilithium to be of the
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| utmost strategic importance. Disruption to its production won't be accepted.
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| What will your government do to mitigate relations between the Prasaan and
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| Enric?"
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| "Perhaps you haven't been listening Commander Steele!" Litro scowled. "The
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| Enric don't do compromise. They won't ..."
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| Merrick yawned. It had been like this with the honorable Litro yesterday and
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| the day before. He was checking his communicator's chrono again...when it
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| happened.
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| All of the sudden it seemed like there were explosions everywhere. The lead car
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| erupted in a mushrooming fireball. Glass snapped across Merrick's face even as
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| he was thrown hard against his harness. In an instant, the whole convoy
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| crashed to a halt.
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| Shaking his head, he looked up in shock. He felt as if he had ear muffs on and
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| his vision was blurry. He glanced around. The Captain's limo, along with half
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| the HOOD's senior staff, was a blazing hulk. His own car's driver had slumped,
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| unconscious or dead. Merrick looked forward again. There was a line of smoke
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| leading right up to the first limo's burning wreckage. The image stirred
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| something in Merrick...an urgent little voice began to rise. "OH SH...!"
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| "Out! Out! Get out!" he yelled. "Rockets inbound!"
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| Then he noticed for the first time a frightful pinging sound. Whizzing and
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| ricocheting bullets filled the car. Panicked now, Merrick unhitched his belt
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| and dove for the slightly less exposed rear cabin. Wave after wave of shots
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| thudded around him. He heard a short, very small cry. He peered up and beheld
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| with gut wrenching horror the darling little asian officer from communications.
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| She had taken two rounds to the chest. Her terror stricken eyes held his for a
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| moment, then lost their light forever.
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| Coming back to himself, Merrick realized that the intensity of the shots had
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| lessened. He saw commander Steele next to him laying on top of the councilman
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| and shouting vainly into a communicator.
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| "Jammed!" he spat. The fire seemed to have come from their right, so Steele
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| gestured left.
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| "Go! Go! Go!" Steele shouted as Merrick kicked the door out and they crawled
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| into the street. But as Steele dragged out the sobbing councilman, Merrick
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| realized that there was no real cover nearby. Their caravan had been hit in an
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| open field. The only nearby structure, a tiny convenience store he guessed, had
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| been taken out by a rocket that must have just missed their limo.
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| As shots started to patter close again, Litro began crying hysterically.
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| "They're going to kill us! They're going to kill us!" Steele gave the
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| incontinent man a swift slap to the cheek.
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| "Control yourself councilman!" Steele ordered, even as a bullet tore a
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| respectable hole inches above his own head.
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| Merrick took heart at this spectacle and started thinking again. A glimmer of
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| hope made him creep forward. Their driver had been a security guard. His
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| pistol might not have much range, but it was better than nothing.
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| With some difficulty, he got the driver-side door open and pried the gun out of
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| its holster. No sooner did he have it in hand than Steele thumped him on the
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| shoulder.
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| "The car behind us is still in one piece. It will have one too," the commander
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| said urgently. "Cover me in three ... two ..."
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| Merrick quickly fumbled off the safety and chambered a round. He heard Steele
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| count "one" and popped his head over the hood of the limo. Luck was on his
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| side. A band of six or seven was hoofing it across the open field towards them.
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| He opened fire.
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| The shots caught the attackers completely by surprise. He nailed one Monillian
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| dissident in the leg and two others hit the dirt. Immediately a volley of
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| projectiles whizzed centimeters from his bare skull. Ducking back, he glanced
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| left in time to see three figures outflanking his absurdly exposed position. He
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| squeezed off six rapid shots that miraculously downed two. The third braced
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| against a street pole, and then made the spectacularly bad mistake of trying to
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| look around it for a target. Merrick all but cheered as his slug splattered the
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| man's brains across the pavement.
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| He heard shouts and more fire behind him. Steele had made it to the other car's
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| weapon and was now pumping a danger close assailant full of bullets. Sirens in
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| the distance became audible. More shouts followed and a whistle call went up.
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| By the time Merrick had pulled another clip from his dead driver's belt, the
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| attackers were retreating. He watched them run full tilt towards a couple of
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| air vans off in the distance.
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| Bastards!" he screamed. "Get back here you bastards!" He let off a few more
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| rounds. He wanted to run after them and make them pay for this unmitigated
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| atrocity.
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| But his training overrode that instinct. Some of the attackers he and Steele
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| had downed might still have fight in them. Grimly, he moved toward the nearest
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| and kicked him in the head for good measure.
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| NRPG: Welcome Aboard the HOOD! This part of a prelaunch series Andy and I have
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| been creating to get things fired up. He'll have a few follow-ons to post
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| shortly after mine. Feel free to add on to them! Just reiterating what Andy's
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| already said in his e-mails, we want to make posting aboard the HOOD as fun as
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| possible. If you don't have time for a few pages, a 5-10 paragraph postlet
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| would be just fine. If you're looking for ideas to get the creative juices
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| flowing, just drop us a message. I always return e-mails within 48 hours and
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| usually within 24. I'm always eager to JP, edit drafts, or just talk if you
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| need.
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| Respectfully Submitted,
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| Brian V. Mansur
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| LCDR Sean Merrick
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| FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703
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| </PRE>
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| ===[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Captain Down ...... Andy Catterick===
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| <PRE>
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| Scene: Planet Monil IV, Capital City.
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| SD 2260.102
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| Damn! Damn! Damn! Steele cursed as he ran a zig zag course
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| towards the relative cover of a partial wall which moments before had been
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| some sort of store. Had been until the rocket that had been meant for his
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| car had missed and taken it out. He had told the captain that, given the
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| tensions and the recent skirmishes between the factions that this had been
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| a BAD idea. Captain Sinclair had known it too, but it was a calculated risk.
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| The government of Montil were aware of the Federation’s technical
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| superiority but wanted to be treated as equals..equals that had something
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| the Federation needed. Badly. So the decision was made to accept their
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| security assurances. And Steele had grudgingly accepted the logic. He
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| should have pushed harder.
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| He flipped open his communicator as his hand groped for the
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| phaser that wasn’t there. Another concession to Montil’s sensibilities.
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| “Steele to HOOD.”
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| [HOOD here. Its good to hear you commander! Sensors are picking
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| up explosions and weapons fire near your location. We can’t raise the
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| captain.] There was mild panic in the comm officer’s voice as if he knew
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| the answer to the unasked question.
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| “The captain is dead along with the majority of the caravan.”
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| Steele replied flatly. “We have multiple hostilies inbound and I don’t
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| think there are enough of the security forces left to hold them off. Set
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| ship’s phasers to stun and target a 2 block radius. Fire when ready.”
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| The order given he spun around to find Merrick. He saw by one
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| of the transports frantically administering CPR to someone in a blue tunic.
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| The doctor? He couldn’t tell with all the smoke. “Merrick! Sean!” The
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| engineer looked up in anguish in time to see Steele point towards the
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| heavens. “Incoming!” They both dove to the ground as the wail of the
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| phasers surrounded them.
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| <<<NRPG>>>
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| As Brian said, some brief backstory that we started. My next two posts
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| will bring us to the 'present'
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| Respectfully,
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| Andy
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| CDR Jack Steele
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| Acting CO
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| USS HOOD NCC 1703
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| ASR ORIGINS
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| </PRE>
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| ===[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Called on the Carpet ...... Andy Catterick===
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| SD 2260.111
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| Scene: Briefing Room, Starbase 27
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| Commander Jack Steele stood at attention and fought the almost
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| overwhelming urge to tell Admiral Palmer and her two lackeys to go
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| and screw themselves. USS HOOD had slid into orbit 8 days ago and
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| Steele had found himself spending the majority of that time standing
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| in front of a variety of admiralty boards and hearings answering no
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| end of stupid, idiotic questions.
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| Breathe, he told himself. It would all be over soon.
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| His captain was dead along with a number of good officers. As one
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| of the few surviving senior officers the responsibility was his and
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| his alone. He just wished they would finish nitpicking every
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| unimportant detail and cashier him. As he deserved. He could feel
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| the disgusted stares of his ancestors all about him.
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| “Stand easy commander.” She made the rank sound like a
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| curse. Palmer frowned as she accepted a folder from Commodore
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| LaPaz and scanned its contents. She conferred with LaPaz and then
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| turned her attention aback to Steele. “So Mr. Steele let me see
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| if I have everything here. HOOD was ordered to Montil IV to secure
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| dilithium mining rights and possibly extend Protectorate status to
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| the Montil government. Instead you involve yourselves in what
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| could have turned into a civil war, you threw caution to the wind
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| and actually sided with one of the factions and in the process not
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| only killed almost two dozen of your crew but your captain.”
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| Steele bit his tongue. They hadn’t involved themselves
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| they had defended themselves. A lot of good people died. But in
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| doing so they had saved hundreds of innocent bystanders. But that
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| didn’t matter. Starfleet wasn’t interested in intentions only in
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| results. They should have found a way
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| “And just to make it a grand slam.” Palmer droned on. “I have
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| received no less then four communiqués from Montil this morning.
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| Three are from some minor functionaries protesting your heavy
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| handedness, your brutality and complete lack of understanding of the
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| political situation. A situation in which you thrust yourself and
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| by extension the Federation into. I believe you know one of the
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| gentlemen, Councilman Litro?” She looked up until he acknowledge
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| the question with a curt nod. “Yes, well, it seems that the
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| councilman formally requests your arrest and extradition to Montil
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| to stand trial for assaulting him.”
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| Steele could feel his cheeks redden partially from embarrassment but
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| mostly from anger. He had lost control with that whimpering excuse
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| for a sentient being. But assault? It was hardly that.
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| “Finally, this last message is from Prime Minister Travil himself.
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| Having reestablished control of the planetary government and with
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| the support of his Parliament he has agreed to a long term contract
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| with the Federation guaranteeing mineral rights. Apparently he
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| feels you were instrumental in swaying him towards a relationship
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| with the Federation and he would like you to sign the treaty on our
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| behalf. In short,” She stared coldly, “he saved your ass.” A long
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| silent pause settled on the room as Steele tried to wrap his mind
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| around the new reality. He had walked into the room knowing his
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| career was over. There had been no other possible outcome.
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| “Based on the findings of this board I hereby declare that all
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| charges against Commander Jack Steele are dropped. Further, he is
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| to return to duty immediately. This Board is adjourned.” She
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| picked up the small gavel and tapped the bell six times. Silently
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| Commodore LaPaz and Captain Reynolds rose and left the room.
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| “I know you don’t believe it Commander but you did a good job. A
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| damn good job. But regardless of any successes there is the matter
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| of Captain Sinclair. Not to sound overly crass but a dead captain
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| demands serious consequences. Had Captain Sinclair told you about
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| DAUNTLESS?”
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| “DAUNTLESS? No sir.”
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| “I thought not. He wanted to save it for a surprise. The orders
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| weren’t official yet and you know the stickler he could be. He
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| wanted to be the one to tell you that you had been given command of
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| her.”
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| *Had been* The words rang out clearly. As in, until you screwed
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| things up and got your CO killed.
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| “I’m sorry to disappoint both of you. But given what I have seen in
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| your record and in large part due to your action and the decisions
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| you made when you found yourself in command I think I have found a
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| more appropriate position for you.”
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| I’m going to resign Steele thought determinedly. I failed to protect
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| my captain and now they’re going to exile me to some interplanetary
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| shuttle run.
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| “The paperwork will probably take a day or two to take affect but
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| you can begin your duties immediately on my authority. Lord knows
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| you’ll have enough to do. Effective immediately I am promoting you
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| to the rank of captain and assigning you HOOD.” She said
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| matter-of-factly.
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| “I’m afraid I don’t understand Admiral.” He wasn’t sure how long he
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| had stood silently before he managed to get that out.
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| Palmer sighed. “The orders are pretty straight forward captain. If
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| you can’t follow simple direction perhaps I’ve made the wrong
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| decision.” And then she smiled. Steele wouldn’t have thought it had
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| been possible. “Captain Sinclair screwed up. Its very clear from
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| the events and though you don’t come out and say it in your report you
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| know it as well. Caution is an important commodity for a good commander
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| to have. But so is the ability to take action and you clearly
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| demonstrated you had that ability when you found yourself in the
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| position you did. Captain, the CONSTITUTION ships are a rare breed
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| and we need commanders who are just as rare. You will quite often
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| find yourself cut off from authority and making decisions that will
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| affect the quadrant. You will be the law, the peace maker, the
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| explorer and when it hits the fan the fist. I am confident that you
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| are the best person for the job.”
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| “Thank you admiral, I won’t let you down.”
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| “Don’t let yourself or your crew down and I’m sure you’ll come out on top.
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| Now at the risk of ruining my reputation as cold automaton I am further
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| authorizing HOOD to remain in orbit for an additional 14 days. Use that
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| time to get her supplied and make any repairs necessary. Report back
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| here at 08:00 on day 15 with your first officer and I will give you your
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| orders.”
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| “My first officer sir?”
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| “You’ve got two weeks captain more then enough time to find yourself a
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| good one. Dismissed.”
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| Respectfully,
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| Andy
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| CDR Jack Steele
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| Acting CO
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| USS HOOD NCC 1703
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| ASR ORIGINS
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| </PRE>
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